The Original Champion Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Romanian Hunt

[Early 1000s]


To Leif, time had slowed down. He did not need food, water or even rest. He could walk on for days and feel no physical discomfort. Even when facing the beasts of the wild, he did not feel anything.


The injuries he suffered healed in an instant and even if he took a fatal blow, it did not kill him.


He had been hunting wild beasts since he left Ayana's place. At first, it felt thrilling –being able to use his new found powers. However, as time passed he grew tired of that act and decided to explore the places.


Hoping to find clues about his power.


He had looked into a few books found in the human settlements. Many of whom worshiped the All Father and yet he could not find anything about a Champion of Loki.


"How far?" Asked the handsome lad adoring golden locks, his eyes were crimson as he stared straight out of the carriage.


"We shall be there by midnight." The man answered merrily, unaware that his eyes were much more dilated than before. "Not a lot of people have been traveling to Transylvania because of the rumors. Recently, even the traders try to avoid going through the place."


He listened intently, aware about the cause of it all.


"Might I ask what brings a young man such as you to this place?" The coachman asked. "It is not always that this place gets visitors."


"I heard that there might be something that I had been looking for in here." Leif said, slowly closing his eyes. "But that is something which is not important to you, now is it?"


This caused the coachman's eyes to darken for a second before returning to myself.


"You are absolutely correct." The man said, a merry smile forming on his face. "Forgive me for that."


Leif did not bother saying much, instead he focused on his ride.


It had been a while since he had figured a few things about his powers. 


Especially his compulsion.


Previously, he had to be mindful of the orders he gave during the time someone was under his compulsion. As when they woke up, the memory of the time they were under his control were left blank in their minds. This caused them sever confusion and someone even lost their sanity because of continuous compulsions.


However, with enough practice and having to sacrifice a few dozen humans and animals alike in the name of experimentation –he was finally able to advance his compulsion to a greater height. 


His current level of compulsion changed the thoughts of the target in such a way that whatever order he gave them, they would do it without question while thinking it was them who came up with the idea or impulse to carry out that action.


This prevented the formation of gaps in their memory, allowing him to not worry about losing them without fully utilizing them.


'They were here…' Leif frowned. 'I can smell their stench.'


The improvements he made were not only with his compulsion, but with his senses as well.


His sense of smell, sight, taste and hearing were on the same level as the beasts of the moon, if not stronger than them.


'They are being referred to as werewolves now.' Leif found it interesting how humans came up with names on the spot and turned them into legends.


Yet in this case, those legends were true.


Just like the legend of Romania.


"We have arrived."


After days of being on the wagon, he finally arrived at the place.


Walking out of the wagon, Leif took a deep breath.


"At last. Let's take a look at the mess you created, Mikaelsons."


…

…


It hadn't been long since Transylvania became a part of the Kingdom of Hungary.


King Stephan I had established his rule in the place with a little bit of struggle, however he left the place to be governed by his cousin because of a certain incident.


'His second consort was assaulted and brutally mutilated in this place.'


Leif walked through the gloomy street as the people looked at him with worry and fear. Noticing this, he knew that he had to change his get up as the clothes were drawing a little too much attention.


Looking around a bit, he saw a man with a similar build as him walking around in rather nice looking clothes. Seeing the person, Leif put on a fake smile on his face as he slowly approached the man.


"Excuse me, kind sir." He called the man, who turned to look at him.


The man was amused to see a person with such different clothes approaching him.


"Yes?" The man asked. "How can I help you?"


Leif stared right into the man's eyes, before making the request. "May I borrow your clothes?"


The man immediately got confused and wondered what the blonde was talking about. "Pardo–"


But Leif was not taking no for an answer.


"I don't like repeating myself, good sir." His eyes turned crimson immediately making the man's eyes dilate.


A second later, the man regained his smile.


"Ah, yes. As you wish." 


Away from the sight of the onlookers, he changed his clothes to the ones given by the man while the man wore Leif's clothes.


After the change of clothes, Leif did not bother wasting time and walked towards his destination.


The Bran Castle.


'Even the Mikaelsons must not have expected that a spawn they created would cause such havoc in a country almost three thousand kilometers from their origin.'


Leif was beyond shocked when he first encountered a man that possessed similar characteristics as those described by Ayana. She told Leif the traits that the Mikaelsons shared after their transformation and coming in contact with a man with similar properties was truly amusing to him.


'Yet he was not even close to the strength Ayana told me about.'


The man was consumed by an insatiable hunger for blood and killed many people in his frenzy. Until Leif decapitated him.


'Removing their head or heart works the best.' 


Over the past few years that he had been traveling, he had met with a lot of such spawns who were being referred to as `Vampires` by the general folks.


And what Leif had learnt was that the longer that person had been a vampire for, the stronger they were.


'Other than a significant weakness to sunlight, they can be considered the apex of predators.'


The moment those vampires came in contact with sunlight, their skin burnt and if they stayed in the sun for long, they disintegrated.


The appearance of vampires had allowed Leif to be able to trace the whereabouts of the Mikaelsons. However, he was already aware that they were not in Romania yet the Champion of Loki still visited the country as he had heard of a very important piece of information.


'This person had interacted with the Mikaelsons for longer than the others.' Leif recalled what he heard from another vampire that he killed. 'He ran away after learning about the weakness of the Mikaelsons.'


The vampire he was currently hunting for had seen the Mikaelsons suffer and this was more than enough for Leif to track him down.


'Bran Castle.' He stood in front of the famous castle, wondering how the vampire gained control over the castle so easily. 


But it did not matter.


'Let's see if hunting him would be any different from the rest.'